4th of July Casserole Carrier

How do you celebrate Independence day? The first thing that comes to mind when we talk about the 4th of July is usually parades and fireworks–but I’m willing to bet that those are closely followed by barbeques and potlucks!

So when Walmart Challenged me to do a 4th of July craft I took the opportunity to make a beautiful and functional casserole carrier that can be used to tote your favorite dish to the 4th of July party in style–and then continue to be used for potlucks, BBQ’s, tailgating and more for the rest of the year.

I used the casserole carrier tutorial over at 2 Little Hooligans to make my carrier. Well, I used her measurements, glanced through her pictures and then sort of just put it together myself–complete with mess ups and fixes.

First I headed off to my Walmart Craft Department to pick up some fabrics. I found a cute patriotic stripe and a red fabric with white stars that coordinated. I had them cut a yard of each (there was plenty left over) and I got a yard of insulated batting as well. The red thread was left over from my Father’s Day Sewing project where I made car seat organizers for Yankee Bill.

So I started out by cutting out my fabric. From each color and from the batting I needed the following pieces: one 30″ by 15″ , one 37″ by 12″, and two long skinny 40″ by 2 1/2″.

Once these were cut out I layered them and pinned them. The two fabrics were placed right sides together, and then the batting was placed on top.

Everything didn’t need to be perfectly lined up (although I wanted my stripes to be straight) because I knew that after I sewed I would be able to trim them all down.

Each of these were sewn around leaving a gap big enough to turn the entire deal inside out (about 3 inches). Then I trimmed them all the way around.

Turning the big rectangles right side out (so that the patterns were facing out and the batting was in the middle) was easy, the long skinny handles took a bit more patience and wrangling. Remember to use a chopstick or a butter knife or something to go inside and push your corners out so that they are nice and crisp!

Once you have them all right side out, fold the part that was your gap in so that it is even and then iron all the way around. You don’t need to sew the gap closed by hand because you will be catching that part when you top stitch.

Which brings me to the next step. You top stitch all the way around each piece. This will basically give you something that looks like a big rectangular placemat 🙂

Now here’s where I sort of fudged it without looking at anyone’s directions. I went ahead and placed and sewed my handles on the 37″ by 12″ piece.

Then I placed the 30″ by 15″ going the other way like a cross and pinned it all together. Then I had to sew all the way around the bottom in a square to attach the two rectangles. To make sure I didn’t accidentally sew the handles down I did my sewing with the handles on the “top”. However since I had already sewn the handles down I couldn’t go all the way round the square without crossing them. So when I came to a handle I had to do a bit of back stitching, cut the thread, move the handle under the presser foot, put the needle back down and start again. Not the best method but it worked.